Basketball Season Ends In Championship Game

Blue Knights finish strong season with 23-8 record earn second region runner up trophy in four seasons.

Rosemount, Minn. –The Dakota County Technical College Basketball season came to an abrupt end on Sunday in the NJCAA Regional Championship game in St. Paul, Minn. losing in overtime 87-77 to Dakota College Bottineau.

In the first half, DCTC held a lead before Bottineau was able to overtake the Blue Knights and take a seven point lead into the locker room. DCTC would come out in the second half to close the gap and eventually take a two point advantage. Bottineau would tie the game at 74 with 9.8 seconds remaining, while the Blue Knights were unable to hit a winner. In the extra period, the Bottineau Jacks were able to limit DCTC to three points while sinking 10 points of their own.

Shooting would hurt the home team. DCTC shot 40.3% from the field compared to a season effort of 46%. The Blue Knights only made 20% of their three point attempts on Sunday compared to season percentage of 36.

Coach Ben Davis said "I am proud of the way our guys competed and fought back today. It was certainly a disappointing way to end the season, but again very proud of everything we accomplished the year. We have a great group of guys that always worked hard and shared in the team success".

DCTC finishes with a record of 23-8 while Bottineau, 16-13, moves onto next Sundays District play-in game for the NJCAA National Tournament.

Blue Knight Notes:

• Coach Ben Davis is in his second year and coached a team that improved by 17 wins over last season, his first as a head coach.
• This was DCTC's second Regional Championship appearance in four seasons of Basketball. DCTC finished as regional runner up in 2012 in the programs first year.
• In all, the athletic teams at DCTC have appeared in 11 regional championships in its 12 year program history.
• Regional Championship appearances for DCTC: Womens Soccer (3), Mens Soccer (1), Basketball (2), Baseball (3) and Softball (2).
• DCTC Regional Championships: (Womens Soccer (1), Softball (1) and baseball (2).
• DCTC has been ranked national in five of its six team sports.
• 130 Fulltime student participate in NJCAA varsity intercollegiate athletics at DCTC. Contact a coach to find out more about a team!